• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

LA VOIX DE CHEZ NOUS ÉTÉ - 2 01 3 Summer 2013 PAGE 16 La voix de chez nous The Girl from Lac-Ste-Marie By Alain Guimont and Sonia autumn leaves, to go to the Dubeau C.I.P. camps north of Mani- waki. He would return to Sonia Dubeau and I have a celebrate Christmas with date with the girl from Lac- us, and then leave again Sainte-Marie: Laurette Ber- until spring, to return with trand Léveillée. We arrive a the melting ice, blowing up little late. Laurette awaits us ice jams that would form in sitting upright on the gallery the shallow sections of the encircling the house next to Gatineau River. I had a the post office on the corner sister who was seven years of rue Émond. Her daughter, older than I was, and she one of her sons, and her son died of diphtheria a few -in-law complete the welcom- months after my birth. I ing committee. Contrary to also had four brothers: my expectations in meeting Levis, Clovis, Aldège, and a lady of ninety-three years, I Roger. Lévis died after find before me a still slender Sonia’s presence, as she three. My father, Abraham being hit by a car.” woman who moves with knows her well, Laurette Léveilée, and my mother, vigour and precision. Her invites us in. We sit around Marianne Henri, were also both “Back in those days there brown eyes shine as bright the kitchen table. Everything from Lac-Ste-Marie. It was be- was little to do in Lac- as ever behind the lenses of is clean and tidy. There is a fore the village was moved as Sainte-Marie except go to her glasses. We barely have jar of jelly beans and Life- the result of the Paugan dam, the school that was run by time to get out of the car saver mints on the counter. which changed the entire land- the Grey nuns or go to before she mockingly criti- work. We lived in the red Laurette tells her story. scape. When my father wasn’t cizes us for being late. Obvi- busy chopping wood and logging brick house to the right of ously she has not forgotten “I was born in Lac-Ste-Marie for C.I.P he was a day labourer. the post office. From the that punctuality is the cour- in 1920. If you count the Every year he left, along with the age of fourteen until I got tesy of kings. Reassured by years that makes me ninety- marriedcont’d at ontwenty p. 21-two, I Cont’d on page 21 A walk in a snow storm By Cameron McArthur ing. snow was made for walking of winter and saw nothing spe- At the end of the day on Fri- along the lakeshore board- cial with more freshly driven I had driven to our cottage day, April 12, 2013, I am the walk. I waived at the driver of snow. the day before with the inten- happiest man in Lac-Sainte- a slow moving snow plow. He tion of spending three days Marie. I had awoken earlier answered with a friendly In 45 minutes, I gratefully watching the Masters, the that morning to an aggressive toot of his horn. Being the Blue Jays and reading. With snow storm. A magical white- only humans taking on the overnight snow and the ness blanketed the pano- nature’s blizzard, in- promise of many more inches ramic view from our cottage stantly we were kindred to come, I could not resist the on the northerly shores of Lac spirits. I regretted that alluring attraction of the out- Ste-Marie. While most of our mine were the only foot- doors. After a cup of coffee, I spring thoughts had turned steps in the four to five set out on a long walk. The from skiing to golf, fishing inches of snow. Where falling snow almost had a and the like, along comes a was everybody? Then I supernatural power over me. good old fashioned snow realized that, off and on, I The temperature was rela- storm. Beyond my compre- had spent five weeks in tively mild, minus 3 centi- hension why, I was as excited Florida this winter and grade, and the quality of as a child on Christmas morn- most residents were tired cont’d on page 22 Summer 2013 The Waiting Game by Beaudaddy LSM is Having a Movement successful at manoeuvring the munici- pality into a corner that the tennis Only one councillor, Pierre Leblanc, courts became the subject of another voted against leasing the golf course offer council could not refuse. when the question came up this spring. Spring brought word from the Mountain The leasing decision has turned out to that Bob Suderman was going to shut be wildly popular based on the turnout at down the courts. The decision would the public meeting in April and the over- have held 75 kids hostage who are whelming response to the season kick- scheduled to attend the summer tennis off at the golf course on May 19. camp from July 22 to August 23. One supporter of the golf decision has “Seven days after they closed the golf said if nobody else will run against the course the community voted to lease it; lone holdout, he will. That might not Beaudaddy amount to a wholesale purge of old line so I thought: ‘that worked pretty well’, “ thinking, but some people would con- he said when he dropped in on a meet- sider it a relief. ing of tennis supporters to spread his cheer. Irish Bastards Support La Voix Fortunately Bob demonstrated that Not all the Franco-irlandais live in Ryan- while public relations may not come de Chez Nous ville. naturally, he is civic-minded. The last Enjoying our newsletter and It took the Irish Bastards to bring folks we heard, the tennis courts are no out of the woods on a Saturday night in longer mixed up with a running dispute would like to support La Voix March. Not the ones who settled Ryan- he is having with the municipality over de Chez Nous? property taxes. And council voted June 5 ville a century ago, but the five-man In order to help us meet the de- band that rocked the village with a mix of to take over the courts at no cost. mand for printed copies of La sea shanties, blue grass and classic Murmers from the Crypt Quebecois folk numbers. Voix de Chez Nous, consider For 20 years the concrete shell of the making a donation. The occasion was Festival des arts de la old hotel has towered over the condos, scene val-Gatinois that ran for a week, like a sarcophagus leaching a liquid that Simply make your cheque paya- making the tail end of this long winter glows in the dark. Only in this case the ble to LVDCN c/o L’Association bearable with music, theatre and home- discharge was the reputation of the des Loisirs de LSM and send it spun humour. By all accounts, it was an Mountain as a destination for holiday to: La Voix de Chez Nous, amazing array of talent. Based on their groups. No hotel rooms means limited 21 ch. Joachim, Lac-Sainte- recent success, the event promises to overnight guests, with consequences for become even more popular in years to the other businesses that usually spring Marie, QC J0X 1Z0. Your sup- come. up around them. port for this important volunteer community initiative is sincerely Each event was well attended, including Word reached Chez Nous over the win- appreciated! the show put on in the community center ter that the derelict hotel had been sold by the Irish Bastards, who are actually a by Maniwaki’s Gilles Lafreniere. So we group of Quebecois lads with no particu- went to the source to ask about his lar claim to ancestry from the emerald plans. IN THIS EDITION isle. But the authentic lilt heard when they sang another drinking song rang Ottawa entrepreneur Jeff Westeinde The Girl from MSM / A 16 like a challenge to the true sons of the tells us he didn’t buy the property. He Walk in a Snow Storm said he is only fulfilling an agreement sod. he had with Lafreniere when the Manik- The Waiting Game 17 Sitting there soaking up the sounds of waki businessman bought the derelict Whisky in the Jar prompted this listener complex by helping him out. Westeinde Fall Election 18 to dream of a return engagement one then said he hasn’t yet decided whether day. Imagine Al Mahoney’s gang of au- to redevelop the site as rental condo Lac Heney 19 thentic Irish buddies and relations squar- units. He will actively evaluate the op- LSM Market / Velo MSM 20 ing off musically against the boys in this portunity over the summer. band after their July 27 golf tournament. We can even hear the Duelling Banjos After two decades living in the shadow Septic Systems 21 ring out with the sound of music from of this eyesore, owners of the existing condo town houses are understandably “Deliverance”. Our Golf Kickoff 24 eager to hear the result. … and Other kinds The owners of the golf course were so LA VOIX DE CHEZ NOUS ÉTÉ - 2 01 3 PAGE 18 Fall Election will be a Race By Phil Gibson of a $100,000 consultant’s report signs that urban sprawl is against rescuing the golf that was submitted to council this beginning to lap at the com- course, will likely be facing a A movement is building to unseat a spring.

Load more

  15

Copy Link